RS

MEMBER DIARY

The USA Has Its Own Fidel – YIPPEE!

This past Tuesday night Tavis Smiley interviewed Carlos Moore on the Tavis Smiley Show on PBS. A transcript of this interview can be read here.

What I find especially disturbing and vile is this comment by Tavis:

There are a couple of things you said in this conversation, Dr. Moore, that I found – at least I heard as interesting parallels between your experience back in the day and the experience that many young African Americans, 17, like you were at one point, are having today – 17, 18, and beyond. And that is, one, this notion of feeling that now that we have a guy named Obama in the White House, we have President Obama now, there are many young people who are as ecstatic and as excited and as enthused about President Obama as you were about your new president, Fidel Castro.

Say what, Tavis? You hear this as interesting parallels? How about hearing this as disturbing parallels or horrific parallels? I would have expected the left to deny, debunk, and refute to the listening public any parallels between Fidel and Barack.

This is just another example of a sickness within the hearts and minds of many Americans that needs to be challenged, and there is no conservative cavalry riding in from our nation’s capitol to save us. For too long too many heads are being filled with mush extolling the wondrous possibilities of a workers’ paradise if we just follow the philosophy of Karl Marx.

We need to work at the local level with new educators, unions, community organizations, and journalists to inform people about the philosophy of Adam Smith. History needs to be taught revealing how misery and failure have borne out everywhere that Karl Marx’s ideas have been tried, and prosperity have borne out everywhere that Adam Smith’s ideas have been tried.

Since this is Valentine’s Day, I do not want a write a diary that only talks about sickness. There is another event recently that provides an example of wellness. Charles Krauthammer writes about it here. The article is about good news from Iraq’s elections that is not being widely reported. I encouraage everyone to read the entire article. These are some of the points from the article:

All the parties that had the words ‘Islamic’ or ‘Arab’ in their names lost, noted Middle East expert Amir Taheri. By contrast, all those that had the words ‘Iraq’ or ‘Iraqi’ gained.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki went from leader of a small Islamic party to leader of the “State of the Law Party,” campaigning on security and secular nationalism. He won a smashing victory. His chief rival, a more sectarian and pro-Iranian Shiite religious party, was devastated. Another major Islamic party, the pro-Iranian Sadr faction, went from 11 percent of the vote to 3 percent, losing badly in its stronghold of Baghdad. The Islamic Fadhila party that had dominated Basra was almost wiped out.

The once-dominant Sunni party affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and the erstwhile insurgency was badly set back. New grass-roots tribal (“Awakening”) and secular Sunni leaders emerged.

But in the intervening years, while the critics washed their hands of Iraq, it began developing the sinews of civil society: a vibrant free press, a plethora of parties, the habits of negotiation and coalition-building. Reflecting these new realities, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani this time purposely and publicly backed no party, strongly signaling a return — contra Iran — to the Iraqi tradition of secular governance.

I think it will be a great idea for us Americans to renew our beliefs in free market capitalism and a vibrant free press. Where this is tried it is successful.